Monday Motivation from the 2016 Golden Dot Award Winners
2016 Golden Dot Award Winners
In early April, we celebrated Green Dot Public Schools educators and staff who are transforming the landscape of public education. The winners from this year’s Golden Dot Awards (aka “The Dotties”) were drawn from our more than 1000 inspiring teachers, staff and administrators who serve Green Dot’s more than 12,000 students. We asked the winners “What inspires you to work hard every day?” Here are a few of their answers:
Assistant Principal of the Year: Yuliya Eisenberg, Alain LeRoy Locke College Prep Academy
“It is both a privilege and an honor to play a role in the lives of the students and families in this community. Seeing the students’ high-school experience is a daily reminder to the importance of the work we are doing to give students in this community equity of access to the education they deserve, and the education I promised many years ago to my third grades and their families.”
Counselor of the Year: Christiane Eubanks, Ánimo South Los Angeles Charter High School
“My students at Ánimo South LA motivate my work ethic. I was born and raised in the same community as my students. It’s my goal to encourage them and to be a model for them, that success is attainable for all of us. I am inspired to educate their minds, so they can grow up and change the world.”
Home Office Employee of the Year: Sanya Kennedy, Knowledge Management
“I know firsthand from working with our teachers, administrators, and other staff how hard they work to change the odds for our students. I aspire to approach my work with that same perspective, ensuring that the supports and tools I provide enable all Green Dot stakeholders to be the best versions of themselves and to focus their time on what matters most: our students.”
Rookie Teacher of the Year: Krystle Braxton, Ánimo James B. Taylor Charter Middle School
“My kids motivate me. I have a ‘failure is not an option’ attitude because of my children. I have to make my own way because they are depending on me! My husband constantly motivates me because he always can see the light at the end of the tunnel. Even through our struggles, he was always the voice of reason. I reflect back daily to the times when I had nothing. I think back to times when I begged for a job and no one would hire me and that makes me work harder.”
Teacher of the Year: Nat Pickering, Ánimo Pat Brown Charter High School
“Each morning I listen to NPR on the way to work. The overview of world events can be disheartening, even depressing. When I pull into the parking lot at school, I am grateful that I have a job that directly engages with, and aims to improve, so many of the world’s ills. By providing a high quality educational environment we can begin to flip the script on the societal issues that have disproportionately harmed the students we serve.
I see my daily work as serving the next generation of thinkers, activists, politicians, researchers, and business people, providing them with the skills to analyze the world that lays before them. I am excited to see the amazing things they will do to bring our society closer to its foundational ideals.”